Woman blames weight loss drug for daughter's murder

LAS VEGAS - The woman was barefoot and naked, her hands bloody from what she said was "the lamb of God." But investigators believe it was from her 6-year-old daughter, who was found dead near a pair of scissors at their home.
 
Danielle Yvonne Slaughter told police officers that she had recently took a weight-loss product and began feeling "an evil presence," according to a recorded interview. When her daughter spoke "evil words," laughed "in an evil voice" and clawed and kicked at her, Slaughter said she picked up scissors and struck the child several times.
 
The 27-year-old woman faces an initial court appearance Wednesday on a murder charge. She is expected to be appointed a lawyer.
 
Police officers found Slaughter shedding her clothes as she ran screaming through the streets of northwest Las Vegas on Sunday. The frenzied woman didn't appear to be injured, though paramedics took her to a hospital.

Investigators summoned to her home by Slaughter's boyfriend found the girl's body in a bedroom.

Police believe the blood on Slaughter was from her daughter. Homicide detectives who questioned her early Monday said she responded to news of the death with disbelief and confusion.

"Did I kill my daughter? Is she dead?" Slaughter asked.

In a recorded police interview, Slaughter said she has had trouble sleeping since she started taking the weight-loss product Hydroxycut four days earlier. She said she slept just one hour on the night before she was found running in the street.
 
Slaughter told police that she wanted to remove the "evil presence" from her home and that she kept her daughter home from day care because of it.

Police homicide Lt. Ray Steiber said investigators believe the mother was sleep-deprived and may have been affected by the drug. A police report said Slaughter told investigators "she never felt this way before."

It wasn't immediately known whether federal officials have received complaints linking Hydroxycut to confusion or delusions.

A U.S. Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman, Siobhan DeLancey, said the product was recalled in 2009 due to complaints about liver damage, and returned to the market after it was reformulated.

Officials for parent company Iovate Health Services Inc. of Canada and Iovate Health Sciences USA Inc. of Blasdell, N.Y., did not immediately respond Tuesday to messages.